Posted by gardenergirl on January 29, 2007, at 14:34:17
In reply to What Kind of Depression / Anxiety creates these sy, posted by Phillipa on January 28, 2007, at 12:13:02
> Okay this has been going on for too many years. Yes I Have a messed up thyroid now but I have to do something about this depression/anxiety.
How is your thyroid doing now? When do you go back for another blood level?
> As you know I've taken benzos for years and for sleep okay but not for during the day as I can't motivate myself to do a thing and fear everything.
What does this fear look like and feel like? Physical symptoms? Emotional symptoms? Thoughts? What happens when you try to do something and the fear kicks in?
> And I sleep from 1-2am till l0am and then feel like I'm dying.
What do you mean like you're dying? Is this a physical feeling? Mental? It sounds like it's awful just by the words you use. (((Jan)))
> What is wrong with me?
I certainly can't and am not making a diagnosis, but you describe experiences which are similar to Anxiety Disorders and perhaps Agoraphobia. In my admittedly limited experience, the best approach is therapy and meds together. And the therapy takes a fair amount of work. It's not about exploring the past issues so much as it is about developing "tools" for dealing anxiety symptoms in the moment, for reframing maladaptive thoughts which increase anxiety feelings, and working on baby steps in getting someone to do the things that they are currently avoiding due to anxiety. This is a CBT approach. Doing more emotion-focused and dynamic work is also helpful, but I find it's useful to have practical and effective strategies in your "tool box" before doing uncovering type work.
Not that there's anything wrong or bad about therapies which focus more on talking through feelings and past experiences. But what the literature says and what I've seen works best for the kind of problems you describe is a more practical, here and now, active approach.
One way you can get started on this yourself, until you get a therapist you feel you can work with, is to get this book: "The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition". It's chock full of information and exercises for those with anxiety to start facing down those fears and getting anxiety under control. Also, if you wish, you can babblemail me your city, and I can try to get referral info for you. No promises, as I'm still trying to find someone for someone else, but I suspect your geographical area might have more options than the other I'm working on.
> I can't read during the day as my eyes won't focus and get too tired.
Have you had your eyes checked recently? Perhaps you've had vision changes which contribute to this.
There's still hope, Phillipa.
namaste
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:727450
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070125/msgs/727761.html